10 Sunday Mar 2024
Tags
Goat willow, Grey willow, male willow catkins, Pussy willow, Salix caprea, Salix cinerea, willow catkins
It’s that time of year when pussy willow – the gorgeous male catkins of the Goat willow (Salix caprea) and Grey willow (Salix cinerea) – is gracing the trees.
In Flora Britannica, Richard Mabey writes that ‘Because so little else was in leaf or flowers at this early season [early Spring], sprays of sallow have frequently been used as “palm” to decorate churches at Eastertide.’
06 Sunday Mar 2022
Tags
Goat willow, goslings, Grey willow, male willow catkins, Pussy willow, Salix caprea, Salix cinerea, willow catkins
One of the sure signs of Spring for me is the appearance of the ‘goslings’, and by that I don’t mean birds, but rather the gorgeous male catkins of the Goat willow (Salix caprea) and Grey willow (Salix cinerea). You probably know them as pussy willow but, according to my Flora Britannica, ‘they used to be called “goslings” … because their texture and colour were like newly hatched geese’.
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